OT: Birdwatching information site

[QuikSand]

The Site of the Day from refdesk today is via Cornell University's ornithology laboratory, widely considered the best in the country.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/

A few times I have posted a thing or two about birdwatching here, and some people expressed some interest in what it's all about. This site probably does a better job than I did with my WDYK entry and other discussion.

For what it's worth, I happen to think that birdwatching has a lot of potential appeal to the same kind of people who would like text sims -- there's a lot of room for analytical thinking as part of getting good at the hobby. Some of the discussion from the linked site explains this a little bit -- talking about how birders are able to very quickly identify birds (it's not just a matter of having quick recall of a bird book -- there's a lot of logical reasoning involved).

Some pretty interesting stuff there, for what it's worth.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I happen to think that birdwatching has a lot of potential appeal to the same kind of people who would like text sims

I felt I had to note that this is yet another argument for the QOTM. I wanted to get it out there before Franklin did.

On the topic, I think I need to read the link, because this has certainly piqued my interest.

[Peregrine]

For what it's worth, I happen to think that birdwatching has a lot of potential appeal to the same kind of people who would like text sims -- there's a lot of room for analytical thinking as part of getting good at the hobby.

I agree. I am interested in birdwatching, though I confess I've been having a hard time figuring out how to get started. I have gone on some bird walks with the local Audubon Society and those have been pretty interesting, but there's just so many birds I have no idea how people keep track of them all.

[Bee]

Any way to do it from the computer...that walking part just seems to sap my interest.

[rkmsuf]

bird-cam

[QuikSand]

Peregrine (a good name for a potential birder),

Really the most important thing about identifying birds is that you ought to have a pretty good idea what kind of bird you are going to see even before you see it. It takes some experience to do this, but that's really what separates good birders from the rest.

After a pretty fair amount of time in the field, when I'm approaching a pond -- I already have in mind what I might be likely to see there. I check out the mudflats, looking for sandpipers and other shorebirds that woudl be wading in the shallow waters and mud... I'll check out the edges, looking for waders like herons or egrets, and also dabbling ducks... I'll check out the reedy edges for things like rails, swamp sparrows, marsh wrens, and so forth. Bottom line is -- by the time I actually "see" a bird, it's probably one of only a haandful of things that I'm "looking for" at that time.

In more generic areas (like woodland trails) it's a littel more varied... but the same principles apply. Springtime walk, and I see a small bird on a tree up ahead. I quickly am thinking warbler or vireo just based on its small size (even before registering anythign about its coloring or activity -- sey the bird is in silhouette against the light). I'll look too see where it is on the tree -- near the top, or near the bottom? Outer branches, or close to the trunk? Is it moving? If so, is it moving pretty randomly, or systematically (up or down, perhaps?) The, I consider the immediate area -- are we near water? Are the trees mostly coniferous or deciduous?

All that sort of stuff plays into the identification, even before you really see or hear the bird itself. But if based on those answers, I'm looking at a small, flighty bird, staying close to the tree trunks on a deciduous tree ... I'll already be thinking Black and White Warbler, even before it pipes out its "squeaky wheel" call which is a dead giveaway.


Like a lot of hobbies, it does take some time to get acquainted and skilled. But it's not like the time getting there is lost time -- you generally find yourself in beautiful natural areas if you're looking for birds -- taking walks in nice forests, marshlands, and along waterways. Even if you don't see any birds, it's usually time pretty well spent, in my book.

[Bearcat729]

My mother just got into bird watching within the last year. She's actually on vacation in Wisconsin looking for cranes right now. I'll have to show her the link in a few days.

I find it interesting too, but not enough to take vacations just to look for birds. I did enjoy migratory bird day in Sandusky last spring

[korme]

what do you get out of birdwatching? like, where is the fulfillment after the days over? i don't think text sims and birdwatching correlate because at the end of the day i can look through player pages upon player pages, standings, records, almanacs, the works.. what exactly do you by watching birds? take notes? i just have no clue how this hobby works.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

i just have no clue

Well, if you are strictly a results-oriented person (driven by things like stats), there is plenty of room for keeping lists. Most birders keep a "life list" of all the birds that they have seen in natural habitat -- and adding new entries to your years-long list becomes a pretty significant event. (I add only a couple a year at this point, unless I travel somewhere new to me)

In the same spirit, some birders like to keep additional lists -- a state list, a yearly list, a county list, a month-specific list, that sort of thing. Or, you can use lists as a way to measure your success -- you go out for a day of springtime birding, and come home with a checklist with 77 species marked off -- that's a very good day. Maybe you try to do better than you did the week before or the year before, that sort of thing.

At the extreme, there are even full-fledged competitions -- a couple years ago, I participated in the World Series of Birding. This one-day event, held in and around Cape May, NJ, involves teams of people hauling all over the state to try to record as many species as possible in that one day -- it's a friendly but very serious competition (ultimately raising a good deal of money for some worthy natural areas and environmental causes).

There is also a good deal of reward in the learning itself, if this is the sort of thing that interests you. You can spend plenty of time looking in a book and reading about how the Short Billed Dowitcher feeds by inserting its bill vertically into the sandy/muddy flats around fresh water... and you can think you understand it. But once you're out in the field, and get a real live Dowitcher feeding in your scope, and you watch it for a while -- you're like "damn, it looks just like a sewing machine!" And you'll never forget that giveaway behavior. You've learned that bird for life.

In addition to just gaining knowledge, some people actually find the viewing of birds to be interesting itself. In the mix of hundreds and hundreds of species are quite a lot of breathtakingly beautiful birds -- I don't know of any colors that I have ever seen more brilliant than the red of a Scarlet Tanager, the blue of an Indigo Bunting, the fiery orange throat of a Blackburnian Warbler, or even sunrise yellow of a Prothonotary Warbler. Catching a good look at a beautiful bird is a reward in itself, to many people.

There are a number of ways where birdwatching is like a role-playing game. If you enjoy the concept of building your character's skills, getting better and better at the things that you do as you develop -- well, as a long time birder, you're basically doing the same thing. Over time, you develop more and more knowledge about the birds you see, the calls you hear, and the habitats you visit. There are birds I can confidently calll quickly now that were challenging to me five years ago. That kind of "development" has always been a key element that made me interested in RPGs (and career-based tax sims, too) -- and it's pretty similar when you take on a knowledge-based hobby in real life.

[Thomkal]

Bee,

I know you were being funny, but there is a way to do it from your computer, that is if your computer is facing a window. I was a part of Cornell's Project Feeder Watch for several years back in New York. You'd record how many and what kind of birds showed up at your feeder at a specific time for a period of an hour I think, then send the forms back to Cornell. They even wrote a book about the project and bird behavior in general back in 1999 called "Birds at your Feeder."

Not sure if they are still doing Project Feeder Watch, but you can still duplicate the results. Watch your feeder for a half-hour or whatever and mark down what birds appear and how many. You'll likely be surprised at just how many different ones visit, and all the while you'll get better at identifying them by sight and by sound as well as learn about their individual behaviors. Great stress relief at the end of a hectic day.

I don't keep life lists and go on vacations/day-trips centered around birdwatching, and was never very good at identifying all but the most common birds, but what I got out of it was just a fascination with birds, a greater understanding of them, and just a personal way to get away from it all when I needed to.

[Draft Dodger]

thanks guys - I'm going to bookmark this thread.














(in case I ever need some help falling asleep)

[QuikSand]

Was that necessary?

Did I mislead you with an alluring thread title, only to dupe you into an unexpected conversation about a topic that doesn't interest you?

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Was that necessary?

Did I mislead you with an alluring thread title, only to dupe you into an unexpected conversation about a topic that doesn't interest you?

just having a little fun. don't get your khaki shorts in a bunch

[Raiders Army]

I thought about making a snide remark, but I didn't. Actually, reading some of the responses to the thread, I can see where it actually would be fun. Awesome link, by the way. Can you recommend any good books out there for those of us without a laptop and wireless connection that goes out into the woods?

[QuikSand]

Well, as far as books go – the very first ting to do is buy a field guide. These are the geeky little books that have all the pictures of all the birds, and little maps and descriptions to help you identify them. For most of the last ten years, I probably would have had to co-recommend three or four different books, saying each one had its own strengths and weaknesses. Not any more, at least as far as I’m concerned, since David Sibley’s guide puts the argument to rest.

Sibley’s Guide to Eastern Birds

Sibley’s Guide to Western Birds

This compact, field-ready volume is the best thing ever created for birdwatchers, I think. The descriptions are clear, the artwork is excellent, the maps are the most accurate ever, and Sibley understands how to pinpoint the key features to use for field identification. Most people thought nobody would ever understand this stuff like Roger Tory Peterson did years ago. They were wrong, David Sibley gets it completely.


An additional book, that is a really good read, is by a well-known birder Pete Dunne (a guy I know a bit – very charming and interesting guy, an inspiration to those of us who think this hobby is actually “cooler” than non-birders might believe). His book doesn’t have any pictures of birds at all – but instead talks about the types of places to go, the types of clothes to wear, the sort of things to expect, etc – and weaves in a number of pretty interesting anecdotes.

Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-To, Where-To, Where-To, and When-To of Birding

[Peregrine]

Thanks for the book rec Quik, I've been very confused by the variety of books available and hadn't pinned one down. Those sound great.